


What the Monsters Have Nightmares About

by weakinteraction



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen, Trick or Treating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 16:34:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8497471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weakinteraction/pseuds/weakinteraction
Summary: The Doctor makes a stop on Earth for a particular purpose.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Knitchick1979](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knitchick1979/gifts).



Ace came into the console room just as the TARDIS was materialising. The Doctor smiled up from the controls, looking just a little too pleased with himself. "Where are we, Professor?" she asked warily.

There was a knock at the door.

"Well, that's unusual," the Doctor said, as though it was exactly what he'd been expecting to happen. The knock came again, more insistently. He pulled the lever to open the doors and doffed his hat to the small children outside. They were dressed in an assortment of costumes -- a blobby alien, a witch, a robot, and, ugh, a creepy clown -- and with one voice shouted, "Trick or Treat!"

"That's a pretty good trick," said the girl accompanying them -- an older cousin, Ace guessed, roped into looking after the kids. "Making your house seem to appear out of nowhere. It's all special effects, though, innit?"

"Very special," Ace said with a grin.

"Do excuse us a moment, we're not quite ready yet," the Doctor said, closing the doors again.

"Trick or Treat!" shouted the younger ones again as the doors swung shut.

"Come along, Ace, there's some candy here somewhere," the Doctor said, starting to open roundels at random.

"Candy?" Ace said incredulously.

"You heard their accents," the Doctor said. "When in Rome, et cetera et cetera."

"Really, Professor? Hallowe'en?" Despite herself, Ace sat on the floor to open some of the lower roundels. Most of them seemed to contain assorted electronic gadgetry, though there was one with a first edition of _Northanger Abbey_ , signed by Jane Austen despite the fact that the introduction said that she'd died before it was published.

"And what, pray tell, is wrong with Hallowe'en?" the Doctor asked as he continued to search.

"It's just ... stupid. Stupid stuff for stupid kids. Vampires and werewolves and ghosts and fairy tales."

"Ace," the Doctor said, crouching down next to her and resting his head on the handle of his umbrella, "since we've met, you've encountered vampires--"

"Haemovores," Ace corrected. "Which are what humans evolve into in a far future filled with polluted slime. You're the one who's always full of scientific explanations."

"The haemovores _were_ being controlled by an evil from the dawn of time," the Doctor said, slightly sulkily.

"Let's not talk about that," Ace said quietly.

"The Cheetah People weren't wolves, obviously, but the transformation--"

"Or that," Ace interrupted.

"And knights and sorcerors from King Arthur's court."

"In a parallel dimension," Ace said. "Science. Next you'll be telling me all that stuff in Gabriel Chase was ghosts."

"Oh no, there's no such thing as ghosts," the Doctor said quickly.

Ace thought for a moment. "I suppose Kane's soldiers were a bit like zombies," she said. Another fate she'd narrowly avoided.

"There you go," the Doctor said. He resumed his search. "And really? You never played any good tricks?"

Ace's face lit up involuntarily. "There was that time ... Wait, no, I probably shouldn't tell you about that." She stood up. "Are we really going to hang around all night giving out 'candy'? Or is there some sort of Frankenstein terrorising the town?"

"Frankenstein was the scientist," the Doctor said off-handedly. "Ah! Here we are!" He reached up and pulled down a big tub of sweets, slapping Ace's hand away when she tried to grab one for herself.

"No, but seriously, Professor."

"Seriously?" the Doctor said, and suddenly had far too serious a look on his face for Ace's liking. "You're right, of course, that there's always an explanation for everything. But there are things far beyond humanity's capability to cope with rationally under most circumstances. When people come across them, they can either go completely insane, or they can try to fit them into a framework that makes sense to them. I'd far rather the latter in the middle of a crisis."

"So you're saying you want humans to celebrate Hallowe'en?" She searched the Doctor's face for answers. " _Need_ them to?"

"Not just Hallowe'en, of course," the Doctor said. "There are various other similar things in other cultures, other places, other times. Now, come along, Ace, we've kept them waiting long enough." Still holding the tub with both hands, he reached across to the console with his foot to activate the doors. "We don't want to spend the next week scraping egg off the outer plasmic shell, do we?"

* * *

Ace watches him over the course of the rest of the night.

He is the Ka Faraq Gatri, indulging humanity with a glimpse of the darkness he brings.

He is the Oncoming Storm, paused momentarily offshore, the direction it will take uncertain.

He is Merlin, administering the high rites at the feast of Samhain.

He is a kind man with eyes older than his face, giving chocolate to young children.

But to Ace, he will always be the Professor.


End file.
